Overcoming Fear of the Blank Page

As a writer, it's the scariest sight. The blank page with a blinking cursor. Your mind is blank. Distractions from the blinding screen build by the moment. It's a paralyzing state to be in, but it doesn't have to be.

As creative people, this momentary fear can eclipse reality and that's what it is, momentary. All it takes is one prompt, one idea, one word written to make it all go away and you may find yourself doing your best writing ever.

Writing can seem trivial compared to other responsibilities in our lives. Sometimes we can find ourselves without a moment to write because there is so much more pulling our attention. It's easy to say, "I'll start tomorrow when there's not so much going on."

But the challenge is understanding that there will never be a "right time to write" and that responsibilities never go away, but only accumulate as time goes on. So staring at that blank page without an idea about what to write only becomes more stressful.

What do we do in those moments? Do we walk away and consider the day a wash or muscle through to write any kind of drivel that comes to mind? The answer is a bit more complex than that because we never know what can trigger our ability to write except for one thing.

"Just Do It". Sure, it's the Nike slogan but I have never been able to effectively apply this saying (with results) to anything else in my life. The act of starting to write is what covers up the blank page.

But what if it's bad? I have news for you, it probably will be. What if someone sees how bad it is and I'm judged as a writer based off that? A legitimate fear because there is more at stake, but most likely no one will see what you write until you have gone through many drafts.

We can put a lot of pressure on ourselves when it seems like the ideas aren't flowing or that the interpretation of what we see in our heads doesn't quite match what we are able to convey on the page. The important part about getting words on the page is to get words on the page.

This is not the time to worry about how bad the ideas are or if everything is in proper format, grammar or spelling. The point is to fill up the page with whatever comes to mind and the edits will come later on.

So what do you have to lose? Fear of the blank page is a major roadblock to eliminate right away. Most people never get passed that point. If you can just write one word, then you've chiseled away fear until you'll find that it's not as intimidating the next time.